A high-ranking team executive was quoted in Saturday's Boston Globe as saying the collective bargaining agreement will allow the Patriots to void the signing bonus in the extension Hernandez signed before the 2012 season. They are backed up by language about "conduct detrimental to the best interests of pro football."

Aaron Hernandez won't be able to collect the guaranteed money in his contract. (AP Photo)

Hernandez was released by the Patriots less than two hours after his Wednesday arrest on murder and gun charges.

"It was guaranteed for skill and injury, but it wasn't guaranteed for personal conduct that cast the club in a negative light, and that's why we cut him," the source was quoted. "We know the CBA. We are well within our rights."

The source also told the paper that recouping money from his contract might have been easier had the Patriots waited for the NFL to suspend Hernandez, but that it wasn't sure the league would do that when it decided to release him. Hernandez cleared waivers Thursday.

According to the report, the Patriots have voided the remaining $5.91 million of the guaranteed $16 million in his extension. They reduced his hit on their salary cap for the upcoming season — only about $2.55 million — will take a sizable hit in 2014, but will be cleared from their books the following year. His original signing bonus was $12.5 million, to be prorated over five seasons for cap purposes, the report said.

The source backed up earlier reports that Patriots brass had decided last week to cut Hernandez before he was arrested and without knowing what charges he would face. Those at the top of the organization, the source said, were "taken aback" when he was charged with murder, rather than obstruction of justice as early reports had hinted.

"We had no inside knowledge," the source told the Globe. "Did it matter to us? No. We were not going to have somebody on the team that's close to a murder."